


Memories (Of a Boy You Haven't Met Yet)

by I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own



Series: Malec One Shots [26]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Magnus gets himself deaged somehow someway, deaged!Magnus, post show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 13:55:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19111036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own/pseuds/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own
Summary: In which Alec comes home to find a young child, with familiar golden eyes, hiding in his wardrobe...





	Memories (Of a Boy You Haven't Met Yet)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I wrote this up while studying because it wouldn't leave me alone and I really DO have to study, guys, I have an exam first thing tomorrow morning and oh my god, I haven't studied, because of this stupid fic! Oh my God!
> 
> Please feel free to take this idea and run with it (so I can read it and won't have to write more for it myself, thanks). 
> 
> There might be more for this fic, when I don't ACTUALLY HAVE to Study, but I make no promises, because oh my god. For now, I'll leave it up to your imaginations if Ragnor manages to fix Magnus right away or if it takes time. :) Because... I have study to be getting on with.
> 
> Title is taken from the song 'Memories Of A Girl I Haven't Met' by Celldweller

Alec steps out of Clary’s portal into the darkened loft and frowns at the absence of his husband. He knows his husband is as busy as he is these days, but his husband is _always_ there to greet him when he returns from his various journeys around the world, and if Magnus isn’t going to be there, then he sends Alec a fire message to let him know. So, where is his husband?

Alec huffs as he takes off his jacket and puts down his brief case before he goes searching. Wandering around the loft in search of his husband only brings him more questions, like why there’s a half-brewed potion in the apothecary that’s turned to sludge from inattention, or why there are books scattered all across the floor in the apothecary, like a tornado tore through it.

Brow furrowed he continues to search for his husband only to come to a stop in the master bedroom, where the various cats, that treat their loft like a half-way house, are all gathered around the walk-in wardrobe, meowing sadly. He frowns at them all and crosses to the wardrobe, nudging them out of the way so he can open the door, the moment he does so his breath catches at the sight of small, terrified golden eyes looking up at him from the floor of the wardrobe, buried in a pile of clothes Magnus' must have made a mess of this morning.

“Hello.” Alec greets, even as an intense wave of confusion rushes through him, because he’s more than just a little certain that this… _child_ is Magnus, _his_ Magnus, only that has to be impossible. _Right?_

The kid doesn’t reply, just continues to stare at him, staying impossibly still, where his little arms are wrapped up around his legs. That’s fine, Alec can… well he can work with that, can’t he? He tells himself, as he kneels down and shuffles back so his back is pressed against their bed and he’s not blocking the doorway.

“Hi there, my name is Alec. What’s your name?” he introduces himself, keeping his voice light and gentle despite the very real panic that wants to rush up in him, because yeah, no, he’s really, very, definitely certain this little boy is actually his eight-hundred-year-old warlock husband and how is he supposed to explain _that_ to _anyone?_

Across from him the little boy sniffles and rubs at his nose, his eyes still locked on Alec, never looking around for a single second. The boy considers him, those golden eyes narrowing, but he doesn’t speak, which makes Alec want to kick himself, because of course not! Alec, the idiot, is speaking English to Magnus, the child, as if Magnus, the child, would understand English despite probably only ever being surrounded by whatever languages existed in Indonesia eight hundred years ago. He huffs at himself and slowly takes out his stele, drawing Clary’s _amazing, life-saving_ translation rune on his arm, then he tucks the stele away again, and turns back to the child to repeat his words, only to see the magic crackling around the child’s fingers, and the way his chest is heaving in fear as he looks at the runes on Alec’s skin.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright. It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.” Alec says, holding his hands out in surrender, wonders what asshole Shadowhunters his husband encountered perhaps even before he ever encountered Asmodeus. “My name’s Alec… Alexander. You’re in my home. I promise I won’t hurt you.” He assures the little boy, that he is _still_ certain is his husband, and he watches closely as the boy’s eyes widen in understanding. Slowly, oh, so slowly, the magic starts to fade away. Alec continues to sooth him, isn’t really sure what comes out of his mouth, but he can’t… he refuses to be someone the boy fears, someone _Magnus_ fears.

“Magnus. My name is Magnus.” The boy finally tells him in his native tongue and the rune translating it as he speaks. His words are actually a surprise to Alec, since he was pretty sure Magnus would have gone by a different name back then.

“That’s an odd sounding name.” Alec answers, and knows his own name probably makes little sense to the child, either. The child frowns at him, before sighing heavily and shrugging his shoulders.

“My mama says it was a name my father picked, before he died.” the child replies, and Alec’s really having a hard time reconciling Magnus, the adult, with Magnus, the child, even though he knows they’re the same person, sort of.

“Yeah, my father picked my name out, too.” Alec tells him with a little smile, before he sighs. “Okay, so children don’t normally just appear in my loft... eh, except Madzie and my little brother, Max. So, I’m going to ask my friend Catarina to come and check you, okay? She’s a healer, her job is to make sure you’re alright.” He says, notes the distrust and fear that once more blooms in Magnus’ eyes and sighs. “She’s magic, like you. Your blue fire? She has her own.” He explains, hoping to at least put the kid a little at ease and sees some of the distrust morph into curiosity.

He pats his pockets for his phone, only to remember that his phone is in his jacket which is still in the living room, so, instead, he pulls his stele and a piece of parchment and sends a fire message on its way. His reply is a portal forming in the doorway out to the hall.

“Alec, what was so urgent that-“ Catarina starts to demand, but quiets quickly when she sees Alec making abortive gestures towards the walk-in-wardrobe, where Magnus has tensed up, and flinches with every word Cat speaks.

“It’s okay, it’s just my friend.” Alec says, his voice gentle in the way Cat has only ever heard him use for children. Alec looks at her and gestures her to him, she raises an eyebrow but crosses to his side, kneeling down to look into the wardrobe and her breath hitches at the golden eyes that stare back at her.

“Is that-?” she starts to ask but isn’t sure how to even say the name without bursting into some sort of hysteric giggles. Alec shrugs his shoulders in response and turns back to the kid.

“Magnus, this is my friend, Catarina Loss. Catarina, this is Magnus. He appeared here in the loft and neither of us are sure how.” Alec explains, before hesitating. “He doesn’t understand English, Cat. I’ve got the translation rune active.”

“I’ve been around a long time, Alec.” Cat assures him with a roll of her eyes before turning to the child. “And you couldn’t have found clothing for him to wear?”

“What?” Alec exclaims, turning back to the kid and realizing for the first time that yes, the kid is actually 100% naked. “Oh, I was a bit distracted with... well, everything else!” he replies, making sure she knows that ‘everything else’ is in fact ‘coming home to find that my eight-hundred-year-old husband is somehow now like… nine or something!’. Cat laughs at him, and with a snap of her magic, the kid is suddenly dressed in very warm, very stylish clothing of jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a cardigan. Then, Alec watches as Cat’s magic gently rushes over the kid, checking for any abnormalities in his health.

“He’s fine.” Cat assures, smiling when the kid scrambles forward to reach for her hands, she holds them out to him, and lets him inspect them, turning them this way and that. “Am I the first of our kind that you’ve met, little one?” she questions, and like with Magnus, Alec can tell she isn’t speaking English, but the magic of the rune warps her voice and makes the words sound English to his ears. The little boy nods enthusiastically and holds his little hands up, showing Cat his own magic, she smiles and gently ruffles his hair.

“Do you have eyes like me?”

“No, little one.” Cat replies, shaking her head and letting her glamour start to pull back, revealing her blue skin. “Each of us carry a different sort of identifying mark. We call these marks ‘warlock marks’ because each of us who carry these marks are called warlocks.”

“Is Alexander a warlock?” the kid questions, and Alec can’t fight the smile that pulls at his lips, apparently Magnus’ fascination with his full name is universal.

“No. Alec is what is called a Shadowhunter, they’re different from us and are normally identified by their runes.” Cat explains, pointing to the deflect rune on Alec’s neck, and the translation rune glowing softly on his wrist. “It’s a different kind of magic to what we have.”

“Wow!”

“How about we get off the floor and I’ll answer any of your questions about magic?” Cat questions, before her eyes flick to Alec. “While Alec calls a friend of ours, to see if they might know how you got here?” Magnus looks between the two of them, frowning, before shrugging his shoulders.

“Alright.”

“Great. Alec, call Ragnor, in the meantime, I’ll be teaching this little one the Warlock 101’s.” Cat says, summoning Alec’s phone and pressing it into his hands before gracefully climbing to her feet and leading Magnus towards the living room, Magnus glances back at Alec, makes a face that Alec has absolutely no hope in heaven of understanding, then turns back to follow the other warlock.

Alec sighs and rests his head against the bed and prays for strength and guidance and _Magnus._ He wants his husband, had just wanted to come home after a long day of changing the entire bloody world and fall into his husband’s arms but instead… well, instead his husband is a child again, has no memory of any of them and Alec doubts he’s going to be getting much sleep tonight, if any.

He grumbles as he dials the number he’d _reluctantly_ added into his phone when Magnus had finally decided Ragnor was worth talking to again. After the _months_ of silence between the two warlocks, where Magnus had yet to forgive the other for apparently _not dying_ in his arms.

“Alexander, what can I possibly do for the Inquisitor today?”

“So, my husband is currently like... maybe nine years old, can’t speak English, has the most basic of basic understandings of magic, and has no idea where he is, who I am, who Cat is, or even what is going on. Ideas?” Alec questions, and isn’t surprised when a portal forms beside him and Ragnor steps out looking baffled.

“It’s always bloody Magnus, I swear!” Ragnor says with a huff, before rolling his eyes. “Well, come on then, Shadowhunter, we have to go and fix the latest mess your husband has made!” Ragnor announces, turning on his heel and heading off to do just that, with Alec trailing behind.


End file.
